Photos show eruption on Saturn’s icy moon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Saturn’s geyser-spouting moon Enceladus has a new portfolio, thanks to the Cassini spacecraft.
NASA released its latest close-ups of the little icy moon Friday. The preliminary unprocessed views are from Cassini’s flyby of Enceladus on Wednesday. The spacecraft zoomed right through the ocean world’s erupting jet of water vapor and frozen particles. The U.S.-European spacecraft skimmed within 30 miles of the south pole to get a good dousing.
Project scientist Linda Spilker says the images are stunning, but the most exciting is yet to come in the form of scientific data. The geyser measurements are still coming down from the Saturn-orbiting Cassini. It will take weeks to analyze it all.
Scientists believe an underground ocean of liquid water is the source of the shooting jet stream.
GOP suspends deal for NBC to air debate
NEW YORK – Still annoyed by CNBC’s handling of this week’s presidential debate, the Republican National Committee said Friday that it was suspending its partnership with NBC News and its properties on a primary debate scheduled for February.
NBC News said it was disappointed in the development and will work to resolve the issue with the GOP.
It was unclear in the letter from RNC Chairman Reince Priebus to NBC News chief Andrew Lack whether the party would forbid NBC from televising the Feb. 26 debate and open up the broadcast rights to others. The debate was expected to be telecast on NBC and its Spanish-language partner, Telemundo.
Prebius’ letter also comes amid the backdrop of the individual campaign organizations planning a meeting Sunday to air out grievances about the debate process and suggest changes – a meeting that is pointedly excluding the Republican National Committee.
Republicans were angered by what they characterized as petty, non-substantive questions by debate moderators Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood designed to embarrass the candidates.
Obama says he will sign budget deal
WASHINGTON –President Barack Obama said he’s eager to sign the two-year budget deal passed by the Senate in the pre-dawn hours Friday in hopes of breaking a “cycle of shutdowns and manufactured crises” that have hurt the U.S. economy.
Senators voted 64-35 for the measure that will spare the nation the specter of a catastrophic default and a partial government shutdown. Democrats teamed with Republican defense hawks to overcome opposition from conservatives who included two GOP senators running for president Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas.
Obama had negotiated the accord, passed by the House earlier this week, with congressional leaders who were intent on avoiding the brinkmanship and shutdown threats that have haunted the institution for the past several years. Departing Rep. John Boehner of Ohio made it his top priority in his final days as speaker before making way for Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who took over the leadership Thursday.
The White House said Obama would sign the bill on Monday.
Associated Press
